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Rating the 2017 Non-Conference Slate: SEC

Do as I did: pour yourself some Bourbon and take some sips of these out-of-conference schedules.

Florida (2 legit, 1 FCS): N-Michigan, Northern Colorado, Alabama-Birmingham, Florida State. Going on the road to play a lesser opponent is something you won’t see the Gators do, that’s for sure, so savor this rare inter-section matchup. Also, this is the first appearance of UAB in our preview, so even though they’re going to get pummelled, let’s give a hearty shout-out to the Blazers: they’re back!

Georgia (1.75, 1): Appalachian State, @Notre Dame, Samford, @Georgia Tech. Georgia’s going to South Bend, eh? Let’s christen that the Unrealistic Expectations Bowl. Oh, wait, does Miami play them this year? Yes they do! Oh, the continuing delicious irony if Richt’s new team betas the Domers and UGA can’t… I actually don’t know if that’s ironic, but it’s something that will make me happy as a GT fan, that’s for sure.

South Carolina (1.25, 1): N-North Carolina State, Louisiana Tech, Wofford, Clemson. Before you get too excited about USC-NCSU, let’s look at the scores from the last three times they played: 7-3, 34-0, and 10-0. Well, we can always hope they’ll lose and beat the Bulldogs they play this year in the most amusing way possible, at least.

Alabama (1, 1): N-Florida State, Fresno State, Colorado State, Mercer. Well, outside of FSU this doesn’t really do anything for the Tide, but when have they ever needed the boost a good out-of-conference slate can provide?

Texas A&M (1, 1): @California-Los Angeles, Nicholls State, Louisiana-Lafayette, New Mexico. Again, we applaud the inter-sectional matchup, but y’all just got beat out by the returning national champions and a national title favorite for this year. That’s fair, I’d say.

Arkansas (0.75, 1.5): Florida Agricultural and Mechanical, Texas Christian, New Mexico State, Coastal Carolina. The Chanticleers are moving up to FBS, so Arkansas gets the increasingly rare “half FCS” there. Also thanks to TAMU I had to double check that FAMU was still spelled out in the full name of the school. Oh yeah, they also play TCU which we fully applaud: SWC forever, baby! (Said no one.)

Vanderbilt (0.5, 1): @Middle Tennessee State, Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical, Kansas State, Western Kentucky. Alabama A&M also spells it out. Was that so hard, TAMU? Also, @MTSU is only a road game in the technical sense, as Murfeesboro isn’t that far away. Though there’d probably be more Blue Raider fans there either way…

Louisiana State (0, 1): N-Brigham Young, Tennessee-Chattanooga, Syracuse, Troy State. I wasn’t able to watch it last week, but I hope some time during last week’s national broadcast of a UTC game they replayed the clip of Dan Mullen saying “Uuuuu-Teeeee Chattanooga!”

Mississippi (0, 1): South Alabama, Tennessee-Martin, @California, Louisiana-Lafayette. The people watching that weekend in Berkeley might be spectacular, so we’d like to wholly encourage continuing SEC-Pac-12 matchups.

Mississippi State (0, 1): Charleston Southern, @Louisiana Tech, Brigham Young, Massachusetts. Yeah, I don’t think Dan Mullen is going to be able to make Charleston Southern roll off the tongue quite like he did with their FCS opponent last year. Also, going on the road to Ruston? That’s spicy.